Tagging and Evidence of Sex

You’ve made the kill. Now begins the work of tagging the game, field dressing it, and transporting it to your home or camp.

Meat quality is greatly influenced by how an animal is hunted and how the meat is cared for. Obtaining top-quality meat begins before the hunt and continues right through to the choice of cooking recipes. Everything you do or don’t do influences how the meat tastes at the dinner table.

An animal should not be chased before it is killed. A running, stressed, or wounded animal yields meat strongly flavored by the accumulation of waste products in the muscle—all the more reason to work hard for one-shot kills. Remember: The hunter, not the cook, is responsible for the flavor of the meat!

Tagging and Evidence of Sex

Your first step after the kill is to tag the animal. Tagging an animal means you are claiming the animal as yours by properly notching your tag and attaching it to the animal’s carcass. See the Montana Big Game Hunting Regulations for the proper tagging procedure. Make sure you keep proper evidence of sex and species naturally attached to the carcass. The Montana Big Game Hunting Regulations also clearly explains this procedure.